HISTORY OF THE UNION JACK AND FLAGS OF THE EMPIRE

Their Origin, Proportions and Meanings as tracing the Constitutional Development of the British Realm, and with References to other National Ensigns

BY BARLOW CUMBERLAND, M.A.

Past President of the National Club, and of the Sons of England, Toronto; President of the Ontario Historical Society, Canada

With Illustrations and Nine Coloured Plates

THIRD EDITION, REVISED AND EXTENDED, WITH INDEX

TORONTO WILLIAM BRIGGS Booksellers' Row, Richmond Street West 1909 Copyright, Canada, 1909, by BARLOW CUMBERLAND.

TO THE FLAG ITSELF THIS STORY OF THE

Union Jack

IS DEDICATED WITH MUCH RESPECT BY ONE OF ITS SONS.

PLATE I.

PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION.

This history of the Union Jack grew out of a paper principally intended to inform my boys of how the Union Jack of our Empire grew into its present form, and how the colours and groupings of its parts are connected with our government and history, so that through this knowledge the flag itself might speak to them in a way it had not done before.

A search for further information, extended over many varied fields, gathered together facts that had previously been separated, and grouped them into consecutive order; thus the story grew, and having developed into a lecture, was afterwards, at the suggestion of others, launched upon its public way.

The chapters on the history of the Jacks in the Thirteen American Colonies and in the United States are also new ground and may be of novel interest to not a few. The added information on the proper proportions of our Union Jack, and the directions and reasons for the proper making of its parts, may serve to correct some of the unhappy errors which now exist and may interest all in the observation and study of flags.

An Index has been added, and a record of the "Diamond Anthem" is also appended.

I would acknowledge the criticisms and kindly assistance of many, particularly of Mr. James Bain, Public Librarian of Toronto, who opened out to me the valuable collection in his library; of Mr. J. G. Colmer, C.M.G., Secretary to the Canadian High Commissioner, London, who assisted in obtaining material in England; and of Mr. W. Laird Clowes, Sir James Le Moine, Sir J. G. Bourinot and Dr. J. G. Hodgins, Historiographer of Ontario, who have made many valuable and effective suggestions.

Barlow Cumberland.

Toronto, October 1, 1900.

PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION.

The celebration of EMPIRE DAY and of other National and Historic Anniversaries, accompanied by appropriate addresses, has greatly developed at home and abroad. The instructing value of Flags as the visible evidences of the progressive periods of National history, and the concentration of patriotic remembrance, having become more appreciated, have led, no doubt, to the request for a re-issue of this book, which had been for some time out of print.

For such purposes, and as an assistance to Readers and Teachers, the material has been practically recast and new matter incorporated, so that with the collations in the Index the phases of the various portions of the Flags, both of the British and other nationalities, may be more conveniently traced and connected.

Much additional information, particularly in the designing and creation of the Flags, has been sought out and, with additional illustrations, recorded with a view that the intentions expressed in their forms may be more clearly evidenced, their meanings realized, and their connection with Constitutional movements developed.

The suggestions and assistance of many correspondents, to this end, has been much availed of and is thankfully acknowledged.

During the interval since the last issue the Liberties and Methods of the British Constitution have still further expanded. Additional Daughter-Parliaments in the Dominions over-seas have been empowered, and their Union Flags created. To these, as also added information on other Ensigns, is due the addition to the Title.

The references in stating the progress of our National Flag are, of necessity, much condensed, but the writer trusts that with the instructing aid and narrations of its exponents, the information here put together may be found of help in causing the study of Flags, and the stories which they voice, to be of increasing interest, and their Union Jack and Ensigns more intimately known to our youth as the living emblems of our British History and Union.

Port Hope, September, 1909.

CONTENTS.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

COLOURED PLATES.

THE UNION JACK.

NOTES ON FLAGS.

NAMES OF PARTS.

Particular names are given to the several parts of a flag.

The part next the flagstaff, or width, Is called the "hoist."

The outer part, or length, is termed the "fly," and also the "field."

These parts are further divided into "quarters," or "cantons": two "next the staff," two "in the fly."

These descriptive terms should be noted, as they will be in constant use in the pages which follow.

USAGE.

A flag at half-mast is a sign of mourning.

A flag reversed is a signal of distress.

The lowering of a flag is a signal of surrender.

The raising of the victors' flag in its place is a signal of capture.

The nationality of a country is shown by its flag.

The nationality of a vessel is made known by the flag she flies at the stern.

To hoist the flag of one nation under that of another nation, on the same flag-staff, is to show it disrespect.

History of the Union Jack
And Flags of the Empire.

CHAPTER I.

EMBLEMS AND FLAGS.

There is an instinct in the human race which delights in the flying of flags—a sentiment which appears to be inborn, causing men to become enthusiastic about a significant emblem raised in the air, whether as the insignia of descent, or as a symbol of race, or of nationality; something which, being held aloft before the sight of other men, declares, at a glance, the side to which the bearer belongs, and serves as a rallying point for those who think with him.

The child chortles at a piece of riband waved before him; a boy marches with head erect and martial stride as bearer of the banner at the head of his mimic battalion; the man, at duty's call, rallies to his national standard, and leaving home and all, stakes his life for it in his country's cause; and when the battle of life is closing and steps are homeward bound, the gray-beard, lifting his heart-filled eyes, blesses the day that brings him back within sight of his native flag.

At all ages and in all times has it been the same. The deeper we go into the records of the past the more evidence do we find that man, however varied his race or primitive his condition, however cultured his surroundings or rude his methods, has universally displayed this innate characteristic instinct of delighting and glorifying in some personal or national emblem.

To search for and discover the emblems which they bore thus discloses to us the eras of a people's history, and, therefore, it is that the study of a nation's flag is something more than a mere passing interest, and becomes one of real educational value, meriting our closest investigation, for the study of Flags is really the tracing of History by sight.

In ancient Africa, explorations among the sculptured antiquities on the Nile have brought to light a series of national and religious emblem-standards, which had meaning and use among the Egyptians long before history had a written record. The fans and hieroglyphic standards of the Pharaohs are the index to their dynasties.

The Israelites, at the time of the Exodus, had their distinctive emblems, and in the Book of Numbers (ch. ii. 2), it is related how Moses directed that in their journeyings, "Every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard, with the ensign of their father's house."

So it came that to every Jewish child, in all the subsequent centuries, the emblem on the standard of his tribe recalled the history and the trials of his ancestors and fortified his faith in the God of their Deliverance.

From the lost cities of Nineveh have been unearthed the ensign of the great Assyrian race, the "Twin Bull" (1), sign of their imperial might, and the records of their warriors are thus identified.

In Europe in later times there were few parts of the continent which did not become acquainted with the metal ensigns of the great Roman Empire. The formidable Legions of their armies, issuing from the centre of the realm, carried the Imperial Eagle at their head, and setting it in triumph over many a subjugated state, established its supremacy among the peoples as a sign of the all-conquering power of their mighty Empire. To this eagle of the Roman legions may be traced back the crop of eagle emblems (2), which are borne by so many of the nationalities of Europe at the present day. The golden eagle of the French battalions, the black eagle of Prussia, the white eagle of Poland, and the double-headed eagles of Austria and Russia, whose two heads typify claim to sovereignty over both the ancient Eastern and Western sections of the Roman Empire, are all descendants from the Imperial Eagle of ancient Rome.

As these nationalities of modern Europe have successively arisen and developed into their separate existence, the emblem of their ancient subjugation has been raised by them as the emblem of their power, just as the Cross, which was once the emblem of the degradation and death of the Christ, has been accepted as the signal and glory of the nations which have come under the Christian sway.

As on the Eastern, so also on the Western hemisphere. On all continents the rainbow in the heavens is a perpetual memorial of the covenant made between God and man—the sign that behind the wonders of nature dwells the still more wonderful First Cause and Author of them all. The Peruvians, far back in the centuries of existence on the continent of South America, had preserved a tradition of a great event which, although it had taken place on another hemisphere, yet had been, by some means, transmitted to theirs, and, tracing from it the story of their national origin, they carried this emblem as sign of the lineage which they claimed as being, as they called themselves, "The Children of the Skies." Thus it was that under the standard of a "Rainbow" the armies of the Incas of Peru valiantly resisted the invasions of Pizzaro when, in the sixteenth century, the South American Continent came under the domination of Spain.

National emblems were borne farther north on the Northern continent by another nation, even yet more ancient than the Peruvians. Embedded in the ruins of buried cities of the Aztecs, in Mexico, are found the memorials of a constructive and artistic people, whose emblem of the "Eagle with outstretched wings," repeated with patriotic iteration in the stone carvings of their buildings, has thus come down to us the mute declarant of their national aspirations. The nation itself as a power has long since passed away, but the outlines of their emblem still preserve the ideals of the vanished race.

A living instance of much interest also evidences the adherence to national emblems among the earlier inhabitants of North America. Long before the invading Europeans first landed on the shores of the North Atlantic coasts, the nomad Red Indian, as he travelled from place to place through the fastnesses of the forests, along the shores of the great lakes, over the plains of vast central prairies, or amid the mountains that crown the Pacific slope, everywhere attested the story of his descent by the "Totem" of his family. This sign of the Tortoise (3), the Wolf (4), the Bear, or the Fish, painted or embroidered on his trappings or carved upon his weapons, was displayed as evidence of his origin, and whether he came as a friend or advanced as a foe, its presence nerved him to maintain the reputation of his family and the honour of his tribe.